Yallywood vs. Hollywood: The battle for TV and film production

California is looking for ways to prevent filming from moving outside of Hollywood and into places like Atlanta.

California legislators approved a 5-0 vote by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Aug. 14 that will quadruple tax subsidies for location shooting to $400 million a year and eliminate the lottery system that awards tax credits to TV and film produtions, despite its economic impact. The bill still needs to be passed by the state’s entire Senate and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, according to the L.A. Times.

From 2010 to 2014, The Golden State lost nearly $2 billion in production spending from projects that moved out-of-state, according to a California Film Commission study.

Gov. Nathan Deal announced Aug. 5 Georgia’s movie and TV industries generated $5.1 billion in economic impact during the last fiscal year, up from $3.3 billion in fiscal 2013.

Additionally, the Peach State’s 158 feature film and television productions shot in Georgia in fiscal 2014 generated more than 77,900 jobs, including nearly 23,500 workers directly employed by the two industries, the Motion Picture Association of America reported.

A legislative study committee created during this year’s General Assembly session began meeting this summer to consider proposals to expand Georgia’s film tax credit program to pick up portions of the industry not covered by incentives enacted six years ago.

“What we missed the boat on is our home-based smaller companies that don’t do the $500,000 minimum you’ve got to do to take advantage of the credit,” said Georgia Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, who will chair the study committee. “We’ve got to incentivize them more.”